Mattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Ceann Comhairle for allowing this very important issue to be raised and I apologise on behalf of the Deputies who are not present . Some, including Deputy Fitzpatrick, pulled out to give us more time.

The reactions of doctors who carry out late-term abortions in Ireland make for grim reading. One doctor described the carrying out of foeticide as "stabbing the baby in the heart". Others said it is brutal and awful, while one revealed: "I remember getting sick out in the corridors afterwards because I thought it [foeticide] was such an awful procedure and so dreadful." Many of us Deputies on the pro-life side tried hard at meetings of the Joint Committee on the Eighth Amendment of the Constitution in 2018. We put forward amendments to ensure that pain relief would be administered. The then Minister for Health, Deputy Harris, was dismissive and ignored all our appeals. He told us it could not happen but we knew from international experience that it would happen, and it is happening. It is a shocking situation in our country and something has to be done about it. It is just not acceptable. It is unspeakable.

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